


FabFiveFeb - Alan

by JMount74



Series: FabFebFive2021 [5]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-26 06:35:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30101799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JMount74/pseuds/JMount74
Summary: Alan's school assignments and a report.
Series: FabFebFive2021 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2139951
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	1. A Long Time

**Author's Note:**

> for Gumnut's FabFiveFeb - Alan prompts on Tumblr

Alan Shepard Tracy.  
Assignment: Dad

For a long time I had no idea what to write for this assignment. Miss Hannah said that we should write about all the wonderful things our dads do for us, what makes us glad we have our dad.

My Dad is the most amazing man. Did you know that he was the first man to set foot on Mars? Or that he was part of the astronaut team that kept Alpha Base on the Moon going? Before all that he used to fly jets in the air force.

Dad stopped being an astronaut when my brother Virgil was born. He’d been on earth for my oldest brother’s birth, but missed my second-oldest brother’s birth and first few months because he was back on the moon, so when my Mom fell pregnant again he didn’t want to miss anything. That’s what Gordon says, anyway.

He started his own company. He is a pretty clever man, my dad, and he was soon doing really well. It’s just as well he did because our family grew to five children and two adults, Mom and Dad. I am the youngest.

Mom died when I was two, so I don’t remember much about her. That used to hurt, but it was a long time, a long time ago now. When we lost our Mom we also lost our Dad. For a while, anyway. Scott, that’s my eldest brother, he says that Dad just loved our Mom so much that he didn’t know how to live without her for a while, and that he always loved us, he just was lost. 

I don’t really remember that time either. I do remember that when Dad did come home there were hugs and gifts and he would read to me. But mostly, I remember my brothers.

I was nearly four when Dad came home properly. That’s what my brother John says. He says Dad was away for a long time, but he came home properly when I was four. He won’t tell me what that means, but I think that something had happened to Scott, as he was ill for a long time when Dad first came home.

What I do remember from that time onward was that we were happy. Grandma moved in with us too, she had lost Grandpa when we lost Mom, so it was great to see her again, she had also been gone a long time.

Even when we moved away from the farm I grew up on, Dad remained Dad. He was always busy, and his business often took him away for a long time, but when he returned he was the same dad he had always been.

Dad taught me that you have to work hard in life, but the rewards for doing so are worth the effort. He says my brothers and I are his reward for working hard, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Dad taught me that those moments where you are together as a family are precious. He has lots and lots of photographs all around his office at home and in his office at work, all of us brothers and our Mom. He says these help him to keep focused on what is important in life. Us.

Dad taught me it is alright to get something wrong, as long as you realise and put it right. One day he sat me down on my own, I was seven, and he apologised for not being there enough when Mom died. I didn’t really understand, but he said that you should always apologise when you do something wrong, even if the other person is not aware of it.

Most of all, Dad taught me that it is alright to be myself. I have four older brothers who are amazing and awesome and clever and bright, and sometimes I wish I was older too, so that I could be with them and do the awesome stuff that they do. But Dad says I am awesome too, in my own way, and one day I will work out what my awesomeness is and I will shine as brightly as my brothers.

I hope that I will not have to wait a long time.


	2. Decadence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alan comes to realise something about his family

Alan Shepard Tracy.  
Assignment: Decadent

I do not have much experience with decadent as I am only eight years old. The internet says that it means ‘reflecting a state of moral or cultural decline.’ I’m not old enough to experience this, but Gordon says that my oldest brother Scott is definitely old enough and has already began his decline. He was laughing as he said this and Scott threw him in the pool, so I don’t think that is the correct definition.

John says that the Roman Empire fell because of decadence. It would seem that as a nation they were so morally corrupt that the nation was easily defeated as they could not defend themselves.

I do not know what morally corrupt means. 

Virgil and John both tell me I do not need to know. Gordon said he couldn’t wait for that to happen to him. Scott said that he doesn’t know what he is talking about and that a thirteen-year-old should not be talking about such things. Scott seemed a little angry, but I think that Gordon is just trying to upset him because Scott can’t take him swimming tonight.

 ~~Scott has a date tonight. I’m not sure if you really want to know that.~~  
Scott says that moral or cultural decline is what happens if you listen to Gordon too much.

The other meaning of decadent the dictionary said was ‘luxuriously self-indulgent’. I wish that dictionaries used smaller words in their descriptions. I had to look that up too. Luxuriously self-indulgent means to ‘indulge in one’s own desires, passions and whims especially without restraint’.

Nobody here has the time to do this. Scott would love to indulge in his flying, but he has school and homework and the farm and us to look after. John would love to indulge in stargazing. He does a little, at night, but he needs to sleep so that his big brain has been charged enough for school. Virgil indulges in music and painting, but that’s because we love it all so much and it reminds us of Mom, so that doesn’t fit the description. Gordon indulges in swimming, but he works hard at that and it involves a lot of restraint.

Me? I have the same passions as both Scott and John. I want to fly, I want to go fast and I want to see the stars, but I am only eight and have to do stuff an eight-year-old does like clean my teeth and do my homework and be good.

Billy in my class said that my family are decadent because we have money, but I can’t see any evidence of that at all. The money my Dad makes is through hard work, not indulgence in his own desires.

However, I have just thought that there is one area where my family are decadent. We are decadent to each other, because everything we do outside of the things we have to do is for each other. Scott says we pay attention to the desires and passions of our brothers and we help them attain them. So maybe we are a decadent family after all.


	3. Balloon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A very unique look at the word

Alan Shepard Tracy.  
Assignment: Ballon

I am not the best person to ask about dancing. I have two left feet and I trip over them a lot. Gordon says that I am accident prone, but Virgil cuffed him around the head the last time he said that and told me that it is normal for a growing boy to be clumsy.

He then told me a very funny story about Gordon being clumsy and dropping Grandma’s best china vase. Gordon and Virgil then ran around the house shouting at each other until Scott yelled at them to behave.

Anyway, where was I?

Oh yeah, dancing. When I watch my Dad dancing it looks like one of two things. Sometimes when Dad’s business is having a special meeting we will all get to go. I don’t like them because I have to dress smartly and wear a tie. Nobody likes wearing a tie in our family, especially my Dad, but he says it’s necessary to look your best.

He does not look his best when he is dancing. He will hold the girl with an arm about her waist and holding her hand in his and then they walk funny all around the floor. Why this is called dancing I do not know.

I tried to look it up on the internet once, but there was no answer there either.

The second type of dancing Dad does involves wiggling his hips in funny ways while waving his arms about, sometimes this includes moving his feet. John calls it ‘Dad dancing’ so I assume that is why my brothers do not dance like that.

I asked Virgil about ‘Ballon’ because the internet says that it is a dance move. He did give me a funny look, but he explained that it is often seen in dance like ballet. I have never seen ballet before, so Virgil and I set up the vidscreen and watched one called Swan Lake.

I did not understand that at all, and if I never see another ballet again I would be very happy. Virgil said it was beautiful and he sighed a lot while we watched it. At one point he paused it, the main girl was in mid-jump and Virgil explained that the time she was hanging in the air was called ballon. I did understand that. She looked like she was stuck in the air sometime, and I was amazed at that.

Oh. 

Scott has just come and read over my report and said that I have mis-spelt it. Apparently I should be writing about ‘balloon’ not ‘ballon’ but I don’t have any more time now.


	4. Beach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thinking of beaches can lead to something good.

Alan Shepard Tracy.  
Assignment: Beach

Beaches can be sandy or rocky. I’ve never seen a rocky one, but Scott says that in England they have rock beaches that have little or no sand. I don’t like the sound of that. You need sand for it to be a proper beach.

Sorry England.

I would love to go to the beach with my family. We live in Kansas which is not near the beach. Our Dad once took us to Florida to the beaches there, but I was too young to remember that. Apparently the sand is golden. 

Did you know that ‘sand’ is also a colour and a texture? Virgil has sand in his paint set. We also have sand nearby us. There is a quarry that we are not allowed to go in but they have sand there, which I find really interesting because there is no beach.

I asked Dad what we did when we went to Florida but he can’t remember because he was working. Gordon said he remembers one beach that we went to had little pools when the tide went out, and that he and Virgil went looking for crabs. Virgil said it’s called ‘rockpooling’ but they didn’t find anything of interest.

Gordon said I should talk about boats. Did I tell you that my brother Gordon is obsessed with swimming and the sea and boats? He swims for hours every day. One day he will win a gold medal because he is very fast, but I don’t see what that has to do with nice sandy beaches.

John helped me. He says to bring a boat out of the water onto the shore is called ‘beaching’. I think that is fascinating, and now I wonder if I have done my assignment right. Should I be talking about boats?

We do not have a boat, although Gordon once bought a boat on eBay for $5,000. Dad was furious and had a long chat with him about it. I’m not sure what happened to the boat, but it was never delivered to the farmhouse.

Gordon still looks at boats on eBay. I’ve just remembered I’m not supposed to tell anyone that.

Scott has just read this and he thinks I don’t need to worry about boats. He gave me a funny look when he read it and I hope I haven’t got Gordon into trouble. Again.

Dad’s just got home and Scott has asked to see him in his study and now I’m really worried I’ve got my best friend into so much trouble! But it’s dinner time so I won’t find out until later.

Dad’s just sat down and announced that we’re all going away next vacation to Florida again. I’m so excited!


	5. I Didn't Know That

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alan's teacher reports on his English Essays

Alan Shepard Tracy.  
School Report for English

Alan Tracy has a very active mind and one that requires concentration to keep on tract. He makes the most amazing segues in his essays and conversations, often bringing seemingly random pieces of information in that often leave me thinking ‘I didn’t know that’.

Whether it’s because he missed the point of the discussion and talks about something else entirely – I didn’t know that about ‘ballon’ – or whether it’s because he looks at alternative meanings and explains them in such unusual ways, Alan shows a remarkable aptitude for lateral thinking that is only enhanced by his interactions with his brothers.

It is always a joy to read his work, to see the input from different family members and then to see how Alan works out his own idea from the information presented to him.

Yes, Alan still has a tendency to daydream, but at his age and with a family like he describes, I’m not surprised, and he will work hard when directed to. He is a good influence on those who sit around him, as he will get on with the work required, he does his homework in good time and he asks questions and participates in classes fully.

It has been a joy to teach him this last year, and I only hope that he will continue to ask his brothers for help with his homework so that I can continue to say ‘I didn’t know that’ as I read his assignments.


End file.
